Day 4 of Lockdown

Today we discovered that the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has coronavirus! I bet he's now wishing he put the country into lockdown sooner! Meanwhile we spent another day at home. I'm actually feeling quite content and don't even feel the need to venture out for a walk yet. The weather probably has something to do with it.

I caught Asiya "reading" the dictionary this morning. She opened it and started talking about what she saw and seemed really interested in it.

We did our usual read alouds, maths and copywork and then did some nature study. I've neglected nature study somewhat in recent weeks - I've had other things on my mind- but it was great to get stuck in again. We have been using a curriculum called Exploring Nature With Children for almost 4 years now and it is brilliant! I would highly recommend it for anyone, whether permanent or temporary home educator. I've written quite a lot about it over on my other blog Multicultural Motherhood. Here you can read about 8 reasons why you should use this curriculum.

This week's nature study topic is snails and I managed to get some great printables from Twinkl, an educational website. I don't normal subscribe to it but they have a special offer on at the moment, to support people who have been affected by school closures, where they are offering one month free!

We read the wonderful book, 'Are you a snail?' which is a fun and educational book and we also read a short extract from 'The Handbook of Nature Study'. 

Then the children went around the garden looking for snails. We managed to find a couple and I suggested we leave them on a piece of apple to see if they would eat it. They weren't interested - they crawled right off!

We spent a lot of the afternoon gardening. Sefer dug over the vegetable patch and the children helped. Riyad also did a great job of clearing up the flower bed. We planted runner beans, peas and carrots directly into the ground. We have a variety of other vegetables growing in our greenhouse.

We found a green caterpillar and have put it in the butterfly cage with some leaves. I am hoping we will be able to see it form a chrysalis and turn into a butterfly.

A children's author on Instagram is sharing daily writing prompts. I thought the children might like to do one. This prompt was about hands. The children had to draw around their hands and then write about their hands. Above are the results.

In the evening I attended a meeting via Zoom to discuss how the Bristol Muslim Strategic Leadership Group (a non-profit organisation I am part of) can assist the community during the coronavirus pandemic. There are so many things to think about! We will start working on our next video soon.